I've not long returned from a guided birding trip to Extremadura in Spain. I last went there about 8 years ago and it's even better than I remembered.
Extremadura is situated in west/central Spain adjoining Portugal. It's one of the semi-autonomous Regions and is relatively undeveloped and well off the usual tourist trails.
Our small group were based in a very rural location a few miles from Trujillo which is just about bang in the middle. For five nights we were based at this very nice hotel overlooking open countryside. It's one of Spain's Hoteles Rurales network. It was family run and all the food was home cooked. We were treated as though we were members of the family. All the other guests were birders so word is getting about.
When you arrive to the sound of Nightingales singing in the garden you know you've come to a good place. Every morning before we set off for our day's birding you could hear Golden Oriole, Hoopoe, and Cuckoo singing and there were always the elusive Azure-winged Magpies flitting about the garden.
As you can imagine I took loads of photos but in truth many of the birds were rather distant so the results are not that good. Some of them are really rather good birds which I hope you might like to see even if the quality isn't up to scratch.
Trujillo
Trujillo is a rather nice town with a bit of history. It was the birthplace of Pizarro who was the conqueror of Peru and of course there is the inevitable statue.
And a castle overlooking the town.
The skies were filled with birds including Barn and Red-rumped Swallows, Black Kites (which I'll show later) and screaming Swifts.
White Storks were nesting everywhere including the bell tower of the church. Hope they don't ring the bell when they were in residence otherwise it would have given them a bit of a headache.
One of the highlights for me of the visit to Trujillo were the Lesser Kestrels. These are cousins of our well known Common Kestrel but unlike them they like to nest communally. The local bullring is a favourite hang out for them. Here's a few shots.
Male on the roof. Time to go hunting?
I've only shown this one to give a sense of scale.
Has it caught something?
Oh yes, very succulent looking. Marjus will identify it for you. LOL
Another rather heavily cropped shot of one hovering.
That's all for now. I'll add to the thread later with more photos from other sites.
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Tony
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I feel as tho' I'm on holiday, keep it going TJ, fabulous photos.
Lot to learn
Monfrague
The Parque Natural de Monfrague is the jewel in the crown of Extremadura. It's an area which is dissected by the the Rio Tajo. As well as the famous gorges which are home to vultures and other raptors the surrounding countryside provides good habitat for other birds with scrub of cistus, lavender and broom predominating.
The day of our first visit was rather grey with a little light rain. However, this proved rather fortuitous because no sooner had we got out of the vehicle at the first viewpoint but there was the Spanish Imperial Eagle sitting atop the crag peak. If it had been a fine day it would have probably been off hunting somewhere. Here's a very distant view.
Amazingly, its mate turned up, gave us a fly past (too quick for me to photograph) and perched on a neighbouring tree and started to preen. Another very long distance shot. Don't ask me which is the male.
Although very similar, the Spanish Imperial Eagle is treated as a separate species to the Imperial Eagle which is found in eastern Europe.
Our next stop in the park was to the Castillo (or was the Sanctuario). This required a steep lung-bursting, heart-pumping climb to the summit. Despite my advanced years and general lack of fitness I made it to the top - two of our group didn't.
Views from the top.
Griffon Vultures were the predominant raptor around and appeared to be doing rather well. They were always floating past on the thermals and nested in the gorge.
We saw other raptors either here or elsewhere in the park.
Short-toed Eagle.
Booted Eagle
Pity the skies weren't blue - it would have shown them up so much better.
We did also see Egyptian Vulture, Peregrine and Eagle Owl chicks in the nest, all too far away to photograph.
More to follow.
Great photos Teejay,
i nearly missed the update, glad i did'nt though,
nice to see the beautiful country-side, love the wild lavender,
those Eagles are wonderful.
thanks for sharing your holiday with us .
Well done for reaching the top of the castle, TJ. and well worth the effort for those spectacular views. I like the vulture best. Those Griffons are magnificent birds seen close up (in a falconry centre I must add!) What a priviledge to see them in the wild - and the eagles. Magnificent.
Cheers, Linda.
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Nearly done - I'm afraid there's no remission for good behaviour.
Odds and ends from Extremadura
How could I not include the classic birds of southern Europe in Spring and Summer.
Hoopoe
Bee-eater
Here's a little curiosity. Like many countries Spain has it's fair share of introduced species. We we were constantly seeing a very small bird flitting about some of the reed beds. At first it was thought to be a Common Waxbill. When we got a decent view of it we decided (or rather our leader did) that it was a Red Adavat but probably a female or first winter male.
Crag Martin collecting mud. Just before this there was a Red-rumped Swallow but I was not quick enough.
Purple Heron
Gredos
We spent two days in the Gredos Mountains. They are not in Extremadura but are situated in the neighbouring region of Castilla y Leon northwest of Madrid. The main reason for going there was to see Bluethroat which only breeds at high altitude in this area.
En route to Gredos at a birding stop we were lucky to get a good sighting of a male Golden Oriole. These are quite common birds in Spain but they are quite shy so not always easy to photograph.
To see the Bluethroat we had to climb to the platanos - more lung-busting, heart-pumping exertion. Here's the habitat.
Still snow on the peaks as you can see.
We did see Bluethroat but too distant to photograph. However on the way up there were these little beauties.
Narcissus of some sort for the flower lovers.
Rock Buntings which were quite common and not shy.
And stunning Ortolan Buntings.
Anyone like to say what these are. It's a common or garden bird back home but here they live at high altitude which probably says something about their ancestry.
I'll sign off with this male Black Redstart which was hanging out by the local Parador. They were quite common in this area hopping about like Robins would back home.
Hope I haven't bored you too much with my tales. Of course , we saw many more species than I've mentioned. Probably in excess of 150 in total.
My abiding impression of Extremadura in particular is the sheer profusion of birds in all sorts of habitats. Do you know what the most common bird was? The Corn Bunting which I haven't even mentioned. They were singing absolutely everywhere. I wish we could say that about about the UK. Perhaps it's the lower intensity of farming and agriculture in this region compared with the UK but they are doing something right because the birdlife is amazing.
Thanks Teejay for an amazing set of photos,
It looks a brilliant place for birdlife, i think the UK has alot to learn,
The hedge accentor is a close relative of the alpine accentor so that is probably why it does quite well high up. I did look twice just in case. Now the question is what do we normally call the hedge accentor.
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More wonderful shots. The Black Redstart does it for me :) Glad you had a good time, it really is a brilliant part of the world for birding.
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TJ what a brillliant report!! Its always great to hear about your foreign adventures + look at the fab pictures. The Golden Oriole is astonishing in its colour!! Love the storks up on the church + the purple heron. Well all of them + always great to see some of the scenery landscapes of these areas.
Fantastic TJ, thanks for taking me on holiday with you, I've really enjoyed it.
'In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks' John Muir.
Excuse wobbily dyslexic spelling!
Fantastic, TJ! Really enjoyed reading your report. It sounds like you had a great time. I'm really tempted to have a look down there myself now!
Brilliant photos, too!
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